


Expectations

by blue_nebulae



Series: Unexpectedly unexpected [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BFFs, Benefits, Best Friends, Boundaries, Contracts, Cramps, Cuddles, Deal, Denial of Feelings, Developing Friendships, Epic Friendship, F/M, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gendry is a Baratheon, Male-Female Friendship, Modern Era, Morning After, Morning Sex, Only sex, Quickies, Romantic Friendship, Sex, Smut, coffee conversation, friendly - Freeform, gendry can cook, menstrual cramps, never had a friend like this, sex friends - Freeform, shag friends, they have sex, what are friends are for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-03-26 05:13:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13850826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_nebulae/pseuds/blue_nebulae
Summary: A relationship is just too much work and trouble. Arya wanted something simple, the benefits of a physical relationship but none of the troubles of a romantic relationship.A benefits relationship can be her best option and she has a certain candidate in mind.Prequel to Unexpected. Gendrya AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The prequel of Unexpected and how that relantioship developed. Hope you enjoy.

Sometimes Arya wondered if her life was some sort of comedy sketch because she was completely sure there was no way this happened to normal people. Why did her family happen to be the weirdest and sickest people in the world?!

 

 

How come they were all talking about sex and _her_ love life while they were supposed to be having a going away party for her sister? Why did Sansa need a party when she’s only going to Europe for six months just for fashion course?! If Sansa was the one going away why were they interrogating her stupid love life, or lack of it to be most accurate.

 

“Seriously Arya, you should totally go out with Podrick! he’s got the hots for you ever since high school!” Margaery said while elbowing on the side as they were trying to put some food on their plates. The thing with Marg, she’s just loud… and somehow everyone now was just trying to set her up with someone they knew and she wanted to leave. For once, her older brothers, Jon and Robb, were useless with Robb even agreeing with Marg on her being set up with Podrick!

 

“You’ve been alone too long, I think it’s time you date again, Arry” Jon chirped in while receiving a deathly glare from Ygritte “And Podrick is quite a nice guy”

 

“He’s an idiot” Gendry said while flipping the burgers on the barbecue as he was the one in charge of the grill with Edric.

 

“The guy is a snooze fest” Theon, for once, was on her side but it may also be the fact that Theon had always hated Podrick.

 

“Relationships are not my thing now” she just said while taking a seat between Sansa and Robb, hoping her brothers would be too uncomfortable to keep the topic going.

 

“Arya, it’s been over six months since you and Jaqen broke up, I think it’s been enough time. Are you sure there’s no one you’re interested in?” Sansa asked her before asking someone to pass her the mustard for her burger.

 

“Nope” it was the truth. There was absolutely no one interesting and she wanted to be herself for a while.

 

“You’re pretty much busy all the time working and studying, sister. You don’t really have much time for meeting people, I think you should let Marg introduce you to someone, maybe it could be nice, who knows?”

 

“Or you could just have one night stands with random strangers! There’s no need to be pushed into a relationship if you don’t want one!” Ygritte casually said, winking an eye at her. Ygritte was the best, always on her side ignoring Jon’s deathly glares and Sansa’s choking up at her words.

 

“No! My sister is not a slut”

 

“A woman enjoying her sexuality has nothing wrong, Jon! Are you being prudish now?” Margaery and her feminism stepped in.

 

“I think Ygritte’s option is the best one up so far” she shrugged, earning a grin from Theon and Ygritte and hearing an annoyed grunt from the back.

 

“No! Don’t you miss being in a relationship?!” Sansa insisted “The company? The cuddling? The sharing nice moments together?”

 

“Nope, they take too much time and effort!”

 

“You need a shag friend, cousin” Theon said “No relationship weight, just the fun stuff” he winked at her. Theon and Ygritte were probably trying to make her brothers uncomfortable so they would change the subject and leave her alone.

 

“No! Friends with benefits is impossible! Haven’t you seen the movies?!” Sansa was just being impossible.

 

“yeah! It’svery difficult not to get the feelings involved! It happened to Justin Timberlake in that one move!” Jeyne backed the redhead.

 

“It would be weird, sleeping with someone you’ve been friends for a long time… yet it could be thrilling, there’s already a certain degree of trust involved” Margaery trailed off, surprising Arya since she didn’t expect serial dater Marg to agree to that sort of relationship

 

“one could get really attached and hurt if the other person doesn’t feel the same way” Jeyne was still against it.

 

“I think it’s possible” Gendry casually said as he sat down just in front of her across the table “with the right communication and boundaries…” he continued. Of all people she never imagined Gendry supporting those kinds of relationships or being on her side, no matter how good friends they were, on this kind of topics. She looked at him, he had a light blush while he maintained eye contact with her, his serious expression that indicated that he wasn’t joking like Theon or Ygritte, he was telling the truth… he did believe a benefits relationship could work and that was very interesting.

 

… and very appealing.

 

“So, Sansa! How excited are you about Paris?!” Jon yelled changing the topic, finally! Everyone now shifted their attention to Sansa, finally leaving her alone but Gendry kept that serious expression, the one he gets when he’s thinking about something and it intrigued her…


	2. Chapter 2

Usually when she went out partying she wasn’t nervous at all, only excited about burning all of the energy pent up from stressful days of work and training but tonight she wasn’t as excited as usual. There were few times when she felt nervous, this was one of them. She was about to make a proposal to someone, THAT proposal to THAT someone.

 

Over the last few days Gendry’s comment about a no strings attached friends with benefits relationship kept popping in her head. She couldn’t shake them off, it made her start to question if she wanted that type of relationship with somebody.

 

The last stressful days she’s had with training and work were taking a toll on her, she’d tried everything to ease off the tension, but her hands weren’t enough now and the battery charged toy she had on her night stand wasn’t cutting it off either. She needed something… she wanted human contact.

 

So this outing was so convenient, she may have had to play a little hard to convince to make it less obvious she was looking forward to it. It took Jon and Margaery to convince her to go out with them and after dragging it she finally agreed to go just so “everyone stopped pestering her about it”.

 

Gendry was going to be there and she had a plan, a bullet proof plan. She was planning looking like she really didn’t put an effort to be there, dressing casually but making sure she looked hot. People always get surprise when they hear or notice that after years of living with fashion queen Sansa she had learnt a thing or two about fashion.

 

She was sure Gendry found her attractive, she once caught him eyeing her when he thought she wasn’t looking. It was that one time Sansa had forced her into a bodycon black dress for Margaery’s birthday. So obviously tonight she was making an effort to look nice, to make her a bit tempting. Then she was going to greet Gendry, chat with him for a little, maybe dance and then she was casually going to bring the topic of a friends with benefits arrangement and ask him if he was interested.

 

That was it.

 

Plain and simple.

 

Or so she hoped.

 

It was thrilling, she had to admit that, getting to the club with a sole purpose. Her siblings were there, half drunk as she expected them to be even when the night was just starting. Margaery was flirting with Bronn and being loud, most of their friends were somewhere around, greeting her as she made her way to the bar where her target was casually talking to HotPie with a beer in his hand.

 

“Hey” she greeted them as she got to the bar before ordering a beer for her nerves. Small talk was not her favourite thing, but she liked the guys so it was easy until HotPie left to look after Willow Heddle.

 

“you look nice, m’lady” she smirked before punching him lightly. He likes to call her that just to annoy her but tonight it made her feel giddy. The attire she chose was simple, skinny black jeans, converse and a loose crop top that showed her midriff and most of her back, her hair was styled straight to show her asymmetrical haircut and just a bit of smokey eyes as makeup.

 

They talked a bit before she dragged him to dance, using the swarm of people to her advantage to dance closer to him trying to get a reaction out of him, to make it clear that she had something in mind. There was something in the way he looked at her that made her feel a warm sensation running through her body and that’s when she acted. Carefully, slowly she leaned in to talk to his ear so he could her over the raging music.

 

“Remember what you said at Sansa’s party?” backing down a bit so she could watch him, he looked as if trying to remember what he said so she leaned in again “about a benefits relationship”. His eyes opened a bit when it dawned on him, she felt his hands hover over her hips in that moment as if he wasn’t sure what to do with them, after a few seconds he nodded.

 

“want to try it?” she looked straight in the eyes. It was a never ending wait, her heart almost beating out of her chest in agony. As he took too much time to answer she began thinking the worst, she was backing up to escape to say that she was just joking before leaving defeated when he held her by the hips, gripping her confidently to make her stay.

 

“your place or mine?” she couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief when he finally spoke.


	3. Chapter 3

Minutes later she was parked in front of her apartment building gripping the stearing wheel with so much force her knuckles had turned white. The nerves were full force now because what was she supposed to do? Go up and jump on Gendry?

 

She never thought this part through.

 

A knock on her window made her jump, Gendry was there knocking slightly. This was it, breathing hard she opened the door to lead him into her apartment. He mentioned something about getting a place to park and buying something from the store which was a block away.

 

Once they reached her front door she opened it and invited him in. Was this the part when she jumped on him so they could have wild sex? Is it going to be awkward? Oh gods, why didn’t she think this through?

 

He was watching her, carefully as he entered her apartment without saying a word. His eyes told her he was thinking hard, watching her every move with precaution. Perhaps he was trying to figure out what to do or waiting for her to do or say something, she didn’t know because she was absolutely clueless about what her next move was going to be.

 

“Amm would you like something to drink?” she turned for the kitchen, trying to buy her some time to figure out what to do but she never got to take more than three steps when she felt his presence behind her as his arms circled her and pulled him to him to held her still.

 

She was shocked to the core, tensing up as his left hand rested above her tight while the other was keeping her by the waist, her back full against him.

 

“Relax, Arya” his hot breath at her ear and she felt his hard body against her. Heat was rushing over her, a hot wave ran through her whole body as his hot breath hit against her ear.

 

“what are you doing?” her voice was barely a whisper.

 

“I’m going to ask you, are you sure you want this?” his hands were on her hips “I’m not going to do anything you don’t want to” a shiver went down her spine “one word and this never happened.

 

Realisation came into her mind, he wanted this as much as her and he was giving her the final word on this. Just as she proposed she could end it.

 

She wanted this, that was her purpose tonight and she didn’t want to stop.

 

“Keep going” to her surprise her words ended up sounding more commanding than she intended, but he didn’t seem to mind on the contrary she felt him release a breath he was holding before kissing her neck and she could feel his smile against her skin.

 

 His hands travelled to the bottons of her jeans and a gasp was drawn out of her when he started to unbuttoning them, taking her time.

 

“relax” her breath hitched when he began nibbling her neck and his right hand went up under her shirt. Her body began relaxing against him as his right hand was now caressing her breast while the other cupped her crotch and that’s when her ears started to buzz.

 

The heat was almost too much to handle.

 

“I’m here to help, we stop when you say” he pressed over her panties, earning a breathy moan from her. He kept touching her, kissing her neck as his hand went under her panties but stopped there, she wanted to be touched so she gave her permission by taking his wrist and pushing it down. Gendry softly started using his fingers to tease her, caressing her center and she could herself getting wet yet she wanted more, so much more so she pushed his hand even harder.  

 

He got the hint and a loud moan came out of her when his fingers slipped within her making her knees weak. She was sure she would’ve fall down if he wasn’t holding her against him feeling him hard, pressed against her back. Perhaps it was the lack of sexual activity, but the way he used his fingers got her off so easy and fast that in one moment she was enjoying his play, when he made a soft circle over her clit she was gone, sent over the edge.

 

It took her a few seconds to get herself together, time he used to refasten her jeans while she tried to make her body move at her will and to make sure she wouldn’t fall over as soon as he moved “that was wow” was all she could mutter as she turned over. He smirked and she punched him “Now…” she trailed off, moving closer to him, her hands softly going up his torso.

 

“Now we do what you want” his voice was hoarse and he was looking at her with so much hunger and desire it made the heat come back. His blue eyes were gone, they were so dark now and to know she was the cause of it made her want him mor, so much it gave her enough courage to keep this going. This little act had only helped in waking up her dormant libido, spiking it up over the roof after all those months without any sexual activity.

 

“Now we fuck” was all she could say as she jumped on him to kiss him, raising her legs and wrapping them around his waist as he groaned. She was pushed against the wall as he kissed her back, groaning again “I hope you bought condoms on your trip to the store” he felt him chuckle as he kissed her neck.

 

“Of course I did, m’lady! Now, where is your bedroom or you want to be taken against the wall?” she motioned for him to let her down so she could guide him to her room, pushing him to the bed as soon as they got there. Tomorrow she would try to figure out what to do after their night stand was over, tonight she only wanted to satisfy her body and Gendry was more than willing to give her what she wanted.


	4. Chapter 4

She was awoken by the smell of food and her stomach made it well known that it demanded food by grumbling hard. She sat up on her bed to notice that Gendry was nowhere seen in her bedroom but by the sounds coming from the kitchen she could assume he was there cooking something

 

She had slept heavily for the first time in a while. Her body felt warm and relaxed. Usually her bed was cold but last night it felt different, there was warmth in it, a type of it that made her feel relaxed and in some sort of peace.

 

She opened her eyes slowly as her brain woke up and the events of last night returned to her sleep foggy brain. Sitting up and taking a bit of time to stretch, feeling relaxed and satisfied she raised herself to look go to the bathroom before going into the kitchen to see what Gendry was doing.

 

After cleaning herself up, putting on some shorts and a tank top and brushing her teeth it dawned on her.She had finally had sex after a long time.

 

She had hooked up with Gendry and they had fucked, several times last night and earlier in the morning and she wanted it to happen again. Now it was just a matter of how to make that point clear to him.

 

She entered her kitchen to the sight of him fully dressed but barefooted, messy hair and cooking something.

 

“Good morning, I made us breakfast. Hope it’s okay? I used stuff I found around” he was finishing a stack of pancakes. It took her a while to notice but there was a full display of a veggie ham omelette, bacon and toasts, fruits and pancakes along with it. Her breakfasts usually consisted of granola bars and smoothies Sansa usually pre packed for her to blend because she was hopeless around the kitchen.

 

Mostly her diet was based on instant stuff, sandwiches prepared by her, premade meals Sansa forced her to cook with her on weekends or the ones her sister actually made for her whenever she ditched planed meal Sundays, fruits Sansa forced her to buy and lunches she got at her job from the healthy places Sansa recommended. To be honest, if it weren’t for her sister, she’d probably lead the unhealthiest lifestyle ever.

 

Having a freshly cooked breakfast was nice.

 

“It’s fine…” she sat down as he poured her some coffee and she asked him for the cream to go with it. It was awkward, not unbearable but it was and she could tell from the glances he threw at her that he wanted to say something.

 

They were eating in silence when it was pretty much unbearable until she heard a chuckle. Looking up to see Gendry trying not to laugh as he covered his face with one arm “I’m sorry” he tried to explain amid his laughter “but this is awkward, I was hoping it wouldn’t be because it was great but it is!”.

 

Somehow his laughter and the absurdity of this whole situation got to her as she laughed with him. They had been friends for a reasonable amount of years, they had trashed talked about ex boyfriends and girlfriends together before, partied their ways out with their group of friends and spent holidays together, she had been at his high school games and he had gone with her family to see her matches.

 

She knew him, he knew her. They trusted each other enough to do this the right way.

 

They had known each other and lived too much together and it had never been awkward, and last night they had done incredible things to each other, seen more of the other than they had ever seen and now it was as if they just couldn’t look nor talk to the other without some sort of embarrassment. It was ridiculous. It took them a while until they could finally breath again and for once the tension was gone.

 

“So… I kind of guess we need to talk, don’t we?” he started as he picked a piece of pancake while chuckling a bit.

 

“Yeah… I guess. I mean, last night was great and…” nervousness washed all over her again, she was always upfront to speak her mind but this she couldn’t say out in the open for some reason. It was pretty weird to say it, in reality. How could one say “I want to be like we have always been but I want to add hot sex into the mix”.

 

“I get it…” looking up to him she found him frowning with a serious look on his face as if he was thinking hard about something “It’s okay, we can pretend this never happen and still be friends, like we have always been. It’s cool…” he said softly, saddened and embarrassed She watched him as he ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed, he looked defeated… perhaps he also wanted to keep this going.

 

Her confidence came back with the realisation of it “Gendry” he looked up “I want to be your friend and I’d also like a repeat of last night” the look of surprise, shock, relief, happiness and excitement that passed through him almost made her laugh. She had just discovered that Gendry had very expressive blue eyes and could go through a sort of emotions in the span of a second.

 

“really? Well, so do I” He smiled as he ate a slice of bacon “But I think we should talk certain things first, to be safe. My mum always told me that one can have the most important and sincere conversations during breakfast, so… I guess this is a good moment” he was nervous now and it made her wonder what did he wanted to talk about “Even though we already slept together, we used safety measures but just in case we need to discuss more about them”

 

Safe sex, that was THE talk. It was important and yes, she wanted to take every precaution possible in every way so this was going to be quite easy.

 

 

“Alright, I guess it’s fair” She had never had the need to explain this to anyone but she could, it was necessary “I have an IUD as birth control method. I haven’t been active in a while” she hasn’t had sex since she broke it off with Jaqen but she wasn’t going to share that much “I was tested a few weeks ago as part of the requirements for the fencing team and I’m clean, haven’t been active since then”.

 

Straight to the point, she covered important topics she considered he should know about her sex life without revealing personal stuff. It should be enough.

 

“Okay, I was tested at the beginning of the year, haven’t been active much ever since but I will get tested again if you are sure you want this, until then I will use condoms if we do anything”

 

“That seems right” lifting her cup of coffee another question popped into her mind, one she didn’t know exactly how to ask without making it sound a bit more serious but she wanted to know how to proceed in certain scenarios.

 

“Since this is a solely benefits arrangements that means we’re free to live as we please, but are you planning on fucking anyone else if the moment comes up?”

 

She saw him getting surprised; his face showed that he was thinking hard about her question, which made her wonder if she had crossed that line she feared “If I do, I’ll tell you before we do anything, would that be okay?”

 

“Perfect” she couldn’t be happier even when something annoyed her at the same time and she couldn’t quite grasp what it was.

 

“Although, I expect the same from you” it was fair, so she accepted without giving it much thought. Now she could be safe and not worry about catching some disease.

 

“So… you got any plans for the weekend?” he was making casual talk to diffuse any tension left and she appreciated greatly. It was so easy to talk to Gendry, he made it in a way that she didn’t have to be self-conscious about anything, it was relaxing and that’s what she liked about him.

 

“nothing much, I need to do some grocery shopping since you may have probably noticed that my pantry is almost empty. Then maybe I will need to take my car to the shop”

 

“What’s wrong with your car?”

 

“It’s making this funny noise” she shrugged. She was no good with cars, tech stuff or appliances, so if things stopped working or acted weirdly she would take them immediately to the shop or buy new stuff it it was something simple.

 

“I can probably fix it” he shrugged as he poured syrup in his pancakes.

 

“Are you a car genius?” He was so confident she couldn’t help but to tease him. She remembered him working a part time job at an auto shop owned by his uncle in his teenage years, when he refused to receive any help from his father after meeting him out of a sudden and now he owned the business.

 

“You bet I am. Great sex and free car repairs, I believe you’re getting the best part of our deal, m’lady” he teased back.

 

“You won’t hear me complaining, stupid” she shrugged and both continued talking and having breakfast.

 

This arrangement was one of the greatest things she had come up with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while.  
> My computed died and this story with it. I wrote it again but i didn't like it so I'm redoing everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comment if you enjoyed this.


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